Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf says his nation is an irreplaceable ally in the war against Islamist terror. From the BBC story: If we were not with you, you won't manage anything,” said President Pervez Musharraf in a BBC Radio 4 interview. He said the Taleban, not al-Qaeda, was now the focus of the struggle against […]

Some British army officer's critical musings about Pakistan were leaked to the media this week on the eve of the visit by President Pervez Musharraf. Neither Pakistan nor the British government were amused. Some excerpts: In June, a small delegation from Britain's Defence Academy travelled around Pakistan, meeting academics, military officers and politicians. Their discussions […]

Amnesty International accuses Pakistan, the West's close ally in the war on terror, of detaining hundreds of terror suspects illegally. Some of those suspects were subjected to the other t-word. An excerpt from the BBC story: Pakistan denies torture, but detentions without legal process are taking place, a government spokesman told the BBC. The report […]

Did the Danish cartoon controversy start a much needed dialogue between wider Danish society and the country's Muslim community? It may well have. However, 10 of the 12 cartoonists who took on the subject of depicting the prophet Muhammad still haven't appeared in public. An excerpt from the BBC story: Earlier this month, Denmark's Religious Affairs […]

Bob Woodward has a new book out that paints an unflattering picture of Dubya's administration in the months after el presidente pronounced “mission accomplished” from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Some excerpt from the NYT story: The White House ignored an urgent warning in September 2003 from a top Iraq adviser who said that thousands of additional […]

The Daily Show looked into the hard-hitting work of Carl Monday, investigative reporter for WKYC TV in Cleveland, Oh., particularly his stories on a teen masturbating in a public library (six stories, 22 minutes of airtime; that’s a lot on TV).

CBC President Robert Rabinovitch drew his line in the sand for reality TV on the nation's public broadcaster for a parliamentary Heritage Committee hearing. However, the big issue was the impact on English TV if CBC lost NHL hockey. Some excerpts from the CBC.ca story: NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus had been a vocal opponent […]

Some new laws criminalizing offending of the Iraqi government or its officials are lifted from deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's old penal code, reports the NYT. An excerpt: … Roughly a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged with offending public officials in the past year. Currently, three journalists for a small newspaper in southeastern Iraq are being tried here for […]

There was an eye-opening story Wednesday: An unnamed U.S. military officer said there has been a tripling of attacks by insurgents in the eastern part of Afghanistan since Pakistan reached a deal with tribal leaders in North Waziristan that was supposed to end cross-border incursions. However, as usual, the devil is in the details. Some excerpts […]